Zurich Insurance Loses Mass Customer Data

October 26 - Zurich Insurance has vowed to do everything possible to ensure that its security is strengthened, following the loss of highly personal account details of hundreds of thousands of South African policyholders.

A back up tape that contained the details of 550,000 South Africans and a further 40,000 customers from Botswana, was lost en route to secure storage.

Zurich Insurance also confirmed that the details of over 50,000 UK customers were also lost.

The tape has been missing for over a year but the loss was only noted very recently.

The insurance giant launched an immediate investigation into the incident and informed the Financial Services Authority.

All customers have been informed and apologized to, according to Zurich Insurance.

The tape contained contact details of all the customers, with some also including bank details.

"We are putting a great deal of investment into strengthening our internal processes to ensure that incidents of this nature do not happen again in the future," said the Chief Executive of General Insurance for Europe and Zurich Financial Services, Annette Court.

Accountants have been hired to investigate the loss although Zurich Insurance that there was "no evidence" that account details had been compromised.

Court said that the affair was "unacceptable for both us and our customers."

"We apologized unreservedly to all our customers," she said.

Customers have been advised to contact their banks to make sure that their account details remain safe.

The lost data contains details of general insurance policyholders and does not affect the life insurance sector in any way.